Fall starts Thursday after summer ended with a splash
Raindrops cover a ripening pomegranate as the tree's foliage begins to show its autumn color. Debbie Arrington
Who would have guessed? Our weird water year is coming to a soggy close.
Thursday (Sept. 22) marks the first day of fall, the start of a new season but the wrap-up of our water year – 12 months of seasonal moisture.
After the driest spring in Sacramento history and a bone-dry summer, Sacramento may actually have nearly normal totals for our 2021-22 water year, which ends Sept. 30.
Summer departed with an unexpected splash as thunderstorms rolled over the region. Including Monday’s downpours, Sacramento has collected 17.55 inches since Oct. 1, 2021. That’s 97% of average (18.14 inches) for a Sacramento water year.
That total is deceiving: Most of this water year’s moisture fell last October and December. Other than major rain events in those two months, storm systems have been sporadic at best. That’s left soil (and plant life) extremely dry.
So even though the overall numbers don’t look so bad, we’re still in a drought.
Our unusual September storm system delivered a lot of rain to some parts of the Sacramento region but hardly a trickle in others.
“The hit or miss nature of these storms means some areas saw a lot of rain and others didn't see much at all,” says the Sacramento office of the National Weather Service.
On Monday, Sacramento International Airport received 1.01 inches while Downtown Sacramento received only 0.37. Davis recorded 2.95 inches while Stockton rainfall measured just 0.07 inches.
Normal for our region for the first two weeks on September: 0.06 inches.
Tuesday and Wednesday, more spotty storms soaked some areas while skirting others. Rain totals differed from one neighborhood to the next. (My own backyard rain gauge in Sacramento’s Pocket neighborhood measures more than 2 inches from this week.)
How can you tell if your landscape got enough water?
Check soil with a moisture meter to see if your ground soaked up some of that free water. Or just look – and feel. Take a 6-inch trowel and dig; does the soil look dark and moist a few inches below the surface? If soil won’t clump in your hand, it needs more water.
Areas under protection – from big evergreen trees or structures – may have gotten less moisture from these storms. Check those spots, too.
If your landscape got a good soaking, take advantage of this storm and give your sprinklers a break. Turn off your irrigation system. For every inch of rain, wait a week to irrigate.
For more on local weather and rain totals:
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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
WINTER:
Jan. 13: Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables
Jan. 6: Hints for choosing tomato seeds
Dec. 30: Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees
Dec. 23: Is edible gardening possible indoors?
FALL
Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden
Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it
Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come
Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying
Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
WINTER
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden checklist for week of Jan. 18
Make the most of these rain-free breaks. Your garden needs you!
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* Plant bare-root roses and fruit trees.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladiolus for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees, except cherry and apricot trees. Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Prune Christmas camellias (Camellia sasanqua), the early-flowering varieties, after their bloom. They don’t need much, but selective pruning can promote bushiness, upright growth and more bloom next winter. Give them an acid-type fertilizer. But don’t fertilize your Japonica camellias until after they finish blooming next month. Doing that while camellias are in bloom may cause them to drop unopened buds.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
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